Grateful in December


A Post Thanksgiving / Early Christmas party brought the scent of roasted turkey and cranberries at home last weekend. The reasons behind this event are; To celebrate a friend's birthday, to entertain new friends from South Africa visiting Dubai and to spend my last weeks with Dubai friends this year before I fly to join my husband and family for Christmas in France.

It was also a perfect excuse to decorate the home for the holidays, despite not being here during Christmas. As expected, I jumped on the opportunity to decorate and roast my very first turkey. Now I understand the hours of painstaking effort described by friends in the U.S. in preparation for this much awaited meal.

Each friend brought their own dish. My favorite Quinoa alternative fried rice
Decor:  I didn't want to spend much money knowing I'll be traveling anyway, so my fashion designer uncle and I bought cheap ribbons and trimmings from the Japanese discount store, Daiso to adorn the existing votive candles.

We took a trip to ACE Hardware to purchase potted Poinsettia and a wreath that we've converted into a corner feature to highlight the existing IKEA twigs that I already have in a glass floor vase.

Decorated the IKEA twigs to create a makeshift Christmas tree, Existing Votive Candles with trimmings from Daiso

December has also been a month of many things;  Car breaking down in the middle of the road due to an engine problem last night, standing at the curb with my big belly watching a tow truck. Last minute shopping for winter clothes after work. A detailed ultrasound appointment during lunch hour on my own, convincing the doctor why I choose not to find out the gender while he tempted me otherwise. Packing while figuring out how to get a car battery installed to get myself to places in the sand pit. A near-miss car accident on the way home that I'm forever thankful didn't happen, only to realize later that I forgot to retrieve my house key from the set of keys handed over to the car service center. Some days can be a pain right? 

With all the hormones kicking in, I just cried after all that, for feeling helpless and alone in unexpected situations while my husband tried to comfort me on Skype.

Learnings: I realized later that I'm thankful I have friends with me when all of this happened.  If I were alone and didn't agree to meet friends over dinner, the car would have stopped in the middle of Emirates Road and it would have been a much worse disaster. I'm glad I have my uncle, more like a fairy god mother, staying with me while my husband is away and he had the other house key. These events made me see these seemingly invisible blessings and for these I'm grateful. 

I wish you all a happy month of December!
What are your plans?

Love & light,
Arni

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8 comments

  1. JaneDecember 13, 2013 at 10:08 PM

    so great that you have lovely people in your lives! the feast looks so festive and delicious! safe travels when you join your husband and his family in france! happy holidays! :)

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  2. UnknownDecember 14, 2013 at 1:38 AM

    Oh I love the festive decor! And you're definitely right that friends and family are so important. I'm glad that you have such a lovely support system in your life. And happy travels. France sure sounds like it'll be amazing with your husband and his family :)

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  3. DEZMONDDecember 14, 2013 at 2:22 AM

    love your makeshift Christmas tree!

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  4. miss bDecember 14, 2013 at 7:10 AM

    Your home is looking so festive! How exciting to be joining your husband and spending Christmas in France. They have so many wonderful traditions. I especially like la Fête des Rois on January 6th. You certainly had a bad day.
    http://missbbobochic.blogspot.co.uk/

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  5. IreneDecember 15, 2013 at 8:26 PM

    Beautiful post, Arni! I really like your simple but plenty of style home decorations.
    I'm glad that your enjoying this special phase of your life with friends and your uncle and that you'll be spending this Christmas in France with the in-laws.
    I'm also spending this Christmas with my boyfriend and his family in Switzerland for the first time ever - though last year I was already here for Christmas Eve but I flew on 25th December to Tenerife - and I am very excited at the thought of a white Christmas. Maybe my brother will join me for New Year's Eve ... we'll see.

    Have a wonderful week, Arni!

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  6. UnknownDecember 18, 2013 at 5:50 AM

    You are an artist Arny, I love how you transformed candle glasses into christmas ones just with a ribbon.
    I'am sorry to heard you have such a horrible day but is great to have nice people around :D but still can't believe how can you wait without knowing the sex of the baby, I am sure I couldn't deal with that.
    Anyway I hope you have a wonderful christmas and I am glad to hear everything is ok with the baby.
    xxxx

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  7. roothDecember 19, 2013 at 11:49 AM

    Mmmmm I had quinoa fried rice over Thanksgiving and it was actually much better than I thought it would be. I hope you have a happy and healthy December and don't get too overwhelmed by all the holiday hoopla

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  8. trishieDecember 20, 2013 at 7:31 PM

    Oh that 'tree' looks perfect! Wishing you a Merry Christmas x

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